Young adults choose a different kind of faith

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, May 23, 2010

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Monica Perkins of Attica said she does not ascribe to any faith or religion.

"I really don't think a religion should tell you how to live your life," the 20-year-old said. "I think living on Earth is hell and when we die, we all go to heaven."

Perkins is one of the many Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1991, who are less devoted to faith. Most American young adults rarely read the Bible or other sacred texts, attend church or pray, according to a recent survey of 1,200 Millennials conducted in August 2009 by LifeWay Research, a research firm for church leaders.

The Rev. Shawn Zambrows, pastor of the Baptist Student Foundation at Purdue University, said she has noticed young people steadily drift away from church life.

"I think that the numbers have been going down for a long time, not just this generation," she said. "More and more students are growing up without a religious background. Another part is this post-modern mindset. I think they look at spiritual things differently and religious establishments have not been able to communicate to them in the way they think."

While the majority of young adults may be outside the church, other local ministers said passionate devotees do exist.

"The statistics paint a pretty bleak picture but there is a whole other story of college students who really are committed and who are doing amazing things in their lives," said Rob Schrumpf, minister of teaching for Purdue Christian Campus House.

Alex Balingit has one of those stories. After a troubled adolescence full of drugs and alcohol, he found redemption in the Christian faith, he said.

"I cried out (to God) and that is when he revealed Himself to me," the 22-year-old graduating senior said. "When God became real to me that's when my whole entire world was flipped upside down … Jesus became my drug."

Once a self-proclaimed atheist, he has been actively involved with Campus House for about three years.

Krin Baer and Bethany Landis are also young adults involved with Campus House. "I was raised in what I would call a nominal Christian household … but I never really understood who Jesus was or who God was," said 22-year-old Baer. "So I started to search for answers and it has always led me back to Jesus."

Landis was raised in a Christian home but eventually became jaded with religion by the time she came to college. "I had a lot of questions about hypocrisy that I saw within the church," the 24-year-old said. "I wanted to express myself the way I felt I had been made. I wanted to vote how I wanted to vote and think and question. I like science and it seemed like the church was opposed to those things."

Although her own search led her back to the church, she said that same disenchantment with organized religion might be a barrier for other young people.

Pastor Paul Barrett, of Second Baptist Church in Lafayette, said even in light of a national drift away from the church, young people are still open to spiritual guidance. "I've seen people who may not come to church who will stop me and say, 'Pastor will you pray for me,'" he said.

He said people in the church need to reach out to the young adults who have not been raised in the church. "Unlike their parents and grandparents there are a lot more opportunities to do other things that might be more appealing than sitting in church," he said. "There are a lot more distractions. I think that's why it makes it difficult."

Mikaela Nweke of Lafayette has been attending Second Baptist for two years. She became a Christian at a young age but did not start applying its principles to her life until her teenage years.

"I was going through a point where I experienced attempted suicide, neglect and child abuse at an early age," the 25-year-old said. "It was a test. That's when you realize that no matter what, (God) is still there."